I EDITOR'S COMMENT
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• The arrival of the National Hauliers Association on the road transport scene begs the question: To we need another trade association?"
Over the years Commercial Motor has heard a great deal of honesty and a great deal of hypocrisy talked about trade associations. According to some, membership of a trade association is a mark of a professional haulier. To others they are cosy talking shops where members spend a heated hour slamming rate cutters then walk out of the door and promptly stab each other in the back.
The Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association have a great deal to commend them, but they are both minority groups, with no more than 25,000 members between them. There are over 120,000 0-licence holders in the UK, so what does everybody else belong to? Specialist groups include Transfrigoroute UK, the high-profile temperaturecontrolled association, and NODA, for the owner-drivers. But both are comparatively small fish.
The silent majority of operators don't belong to any trade association — and that's why the industry continues to be less than effective in driving home the importance of road transport to the great British public and its representatives in Parliament.
Of course the RHA, the FTA and the specialist groups do a great deal of valuable lobbying, both within Parliament and the Department of Transport. But how much more credible they would be if their membership were to include every haulier in the country.
Perhaps those hauliers eager to join the NHA think that the fledging trade association can finally do something about rates: we wish them well, but only time will tell whether they will succeed where others have failed.
One thing is certain — nothing will be achieved while the trade associations remain fragmented minority groups zealously guarding their own members and constitutions.
At a time when road haulage is facing the greatest pressure in its history, it is time to talk as one, or consider the words of St Mark: "If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand".